February 24, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A
Landowners fume over fire fee
Hundreds
face new
assessments
By Jack Heffernan
EO Media Group
SAM STEIDEL/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Firefighters responded to a blaze in Cannon Beach Sunday.
Woman escapes fire
that destroyed home
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
Fire swept through a
two-story North Larch
Street residence Sunday,
Feb. 12, in a blaze that could
be seen for miles.
There were no report-
ed injuries and one woman
was assisted safely from
the second story after two
passersby heard the build-
ing’s smoke detector sound-
ing from parking lot across
street and saw smoke com-
ing from building. They as-
sisted the occupant from the
second story down the stairs
to safety.
The call was received
to dispatch via telephone
at 3:31 p.m. on Saturday,
Cannon Beach Fire Chief
Matt Benedict said. Cannon
Beach was first to arrive at,
followed by Seaside and
Gearhart. “Additional units
were dispatched to move-
up as part of our mutual
aid agreement for a ‘second
alarm’ within Clatsop Coun-
ty which included Warren-
ton Fire, Hamlet Fire, Ne-
halem Fire, Lewis and Clark
Fire,” Benedict said.
The apartment building
was almost fully involved
when local police and fire
arrived first to the scene.
The top units of the building
were destroyed; the bottom
units had some smoke and
water damage.
In the fire’s early phases,
there was risk of it spread-
ing, Benedict said, until fire-
fighters used a water hose
and extinguished the blaze
from the outside in.
“We have two ladders
here, Seaside and ours,”
Benedict said. “We used
ours from up top to squirt
down — most of it was
on the second story of the
house.”
Firefighters did not enter
the building because of the
risk of collapse. “If you look
at the wall from the other
side, you can see that it’s
bowing out,” Benedict said.
“We’re not going to put any-
one in there in that danger to
put it out.”
All units were back in
service by 9 p.m. Sunday.
In Seaside, members of
the City Council praised the
efforts of firefighters.
“We responded down to
that fire and we were right
in the middle of that,” Sea-
side’s City Manager Mark
Winstanley said at a Sea-
side City Council meeting
on Feb. 13, the day after
the fire. “We are certainly
always willing to help our
neighbors in these situa-
tions. We’re very proud of
the fire department, and I
want to make sure I recog-
nize those people on the fire
department.”
The fire was determined
to be accidental, Benedict
said.
“The volunteers did an
amazing job of getting the
fire out, no one was injured,”
he added. “Special thanks to
Cannon Beach PD for their
assistance. It was much ap-
preciated.”
Landowners in Clatsop
County are challenging a fee
assessed by the state for fire
protection, citing improper
classification and a lack of ad-
vance notice.
In early January, roughly
2,300 landowners in the As-
toria Forest Protection District
were notified that their proper-
ties, designated as forestlands
in July, would be assessed an
annual fee for fire protection
as part of their property tax-
es. But some argue either that
their properties should not
qualify as forestland or they
had not received proper notice.
The Oregon Department of
Forestry provides fire protec-
tion to forest and grazing lands
through money from both the
state general fund and fees it
collects from forestland prop-
erty owners.
Overall, roughly 4,750 lots
were added as forestlands,
while 1,200 lots — including
600 owners — were removed
from the list.
The current annual tax rate
in the Astoria district is $1.21
per acre, and owners of forest-
lands are charged a minimum
assessment of $18.75 each
year. A $47.50 surcharge can
be added if property owners
build additional structures on
their land.
Wildfire efforts
The money collected from
these fees fund wildfire efforts
in the state. Rates could vary
each year based on the number
of wildfires the Department of
Forestry responds to in a given
year and the number of people
paying into the system, Astoria
District Forester Dan Goody
said. The department does not
receive any additional revenue
from the assessments.
While many of these prop-
erty owners also pay taxes to
local fire districts that respond
to structural fires, the Depart-
ment of Forestry’s assessment
is based on lands it would pro-
tect during a wildfire, Goody
said. Therefore, many prop-
erty owners who don’t have
many trees or vegetation on
their land may also be subject-
ed to these taxes.
But some property owners
have been confused about the
DANNY MILLER/EO MEDIA GROUP
Tim Mancill walks on his property on Wednesday in Seaside. Mancill is appealing the add-
ed fire protection fee on his property.
Surprise
distinction. Tim Mancill, who
has owned a 2.36 acre lot on
North Wahanna Road in Sea-
side for almost 13 years that
also includes his home, was
assessed $66.25 for his prop-
erty. Much of his property
includes wetlands, which are
submerged underwater for
much of the year, along with
some willow trees.
“I think they’re out for a
money grab,” Mancill said.
“Don’t they have better things
to do with their time?”
Goody said people would
be surprised about the kinds
of land that allow wildfires to
spread quickly. In his experi-
ence, even lands such as cran-
berry bogs have caught fire, he
said.
The problem: some prop-
erty owners whose lands were
reclassified were completely
unaware that this process took
place.
“I was surprised and was
like, ‘What the heck is this?’”
Mancill said about the mo-
ment he received the notice in
January.
Mancill was one of about
70 landowners who attended
a town hall meeting in Sea-
side on Saturday, Feb. 4, to
discuss the issue. The town
hall, organized by state Sen.
Betsy Johnson and state Rep.
Deborah Boone, featured lo-
cal officials and members of
the Department of Forestry, as
well as concerned landowners.
At times, the town hall became
disorganized with attendees
shouting out of turn, multiple
people who were there said.
“There were so many ques-
tions,” said Coral Rose Ship-
ley, a Seaside property owner.
“It was very hard for the peo-
ple presenting to make their
presentations. They had one
outlook and the audience had
another outlook.”
Goody said he was sur-
prised to hear that many prop-
erty owners were not aware of
the classifications in 2016. The
state had sent postcards 10
months prior to the letter sent
in early January, so residents
may have disregarded them as
junk mail, he said.
“They get a lot of mail, a
lot of junk mail, and a lot of
that gets overlooked,” Goody
said. “It definitely was not the
intent to blindside people.”
Astoria district
In October 2013, a fire as-
sessment committee began its
review of the Astoria district.
The six-member committee
included appointments made
by the Department of Forestry,
the Oregon State Fire Marshal,
the Oregon State University
Extension Service and three
by the Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners. Following
a review, the committee made
recommendations about what
areas could be reclassified as
forestlands.
“I don’t mean any disre-
spect to any of the folks living
on the lands, but there is over
100 years of experience study-
ing fire risks on the commit-
tee,” Goody said.
Two public meetings and
one hearing in May in Astoria
and Seaside produced no oral
or written public comments,
Goody said. The final classi-
fication was recorded by the
county in July.
Appeal process
The classification process
is now final, but the Depart-
ment of Forestry received 29
appeals of the assessment pri-
or to Monday’s deadline. The
appeal process will likely last
until sometime this spring,
Goody said. Once the process
is completed, the reclassified
land will be added to the For-
est Patrol Assessment Roll in
July.
While the state sent out
postcards, held public meet-
ings and sent notices to news-
papers, it typically sees little
involvement from the pub-
lic until late in the process,
Goody said.
“We typically don’t get
much public involvement un-
til it starts hitting the pocket-
books,” he said. “Our honest
intent is to make forestland as-
sessment honest and equitable
to all.”
County Manager Cam-
eron Moore said at the Feb.
8 Clatsop County Board of
Commissioner’s meeting that
the county was not notified in
advance about the letter sent
out in January. He also said
ODF officials apologized to
the county for the confusion
during a meeting on Friday,
Feb. 7.
Sen. Johnson said she had
preliminary discussions with
top officials at ODF earlier
this week about making ad-
justments to the assessments
in Clatsop County. Adjust-
ments would be based on the
apparent failure of communi-
cation, she said.
“The number of people
who attended the town hall
meeting gave rise to the fact
that there was some kind of
failure to communicate,”
Johnson said. “If we had this
kind of disconnect in commu-
nication, something is wrong.”
GoFundMe, fundraising by Community Church aid those who lost their homes
Fire from Page 1A
Coaster Theatre Executive
Director Patrick Lathrop was
among those who lost his home.
“I had just left and was
shopping in Seaside and got
a phone call and came back
down,” Lathrop said Wednes-
day. “I witnessed it. I was very
lost — that’s the only thing I
can say. I was just so confused,
I didn’t know what to do.”
Lathrop said in addition to
his own living space, an apart-
ment used by Coaster Theatre
for guests artists, rehearsals
and meetings was also de-
stroyed in the blaze, which
was ruled accidental.
‘Loving and caring’
“I’ve only seen good,”
church administrator Nancy Gi-
asson said on behalf of Pastor
David Robinson and congre-
gants. “It’s just been beautiful
the way people want to help.”
Giasson said after the fire
“a flood of people, members
and friends of the church”
came to the church with offers
of assistance.
“Extraordinarily
loving
and caring — this is the way
this community is,” Giasson
said. “We care about each oth-
er. We’re just happy to serve
and to be a flow-through for
their gifts.”
The church coordinated
with other efforts to establish
a fire relief fund. Money will
be disbursed equally by those
displaced by the fire.
Whatever people give goes
100 percent to the victims, Gi-
asson added.
“I’m still a little loss to
be honest,” Lathrop said. “I
keep going back to compared
to what the women above me
lost. I don’t have anything to
complain about.”
You can help
To donate, visit www.
gofundme.com/3d-
mwsfc or contact
Emmas Lindsay at
Dogs Allowed, 503-
440-8740.
To donate to the Can-
non Beach Communi-
ty Church Fire Fund,
go to www.beach-
community.org.
CANNON BEACH FIRE AND RESCUE
Police Officer James Jordan at the scene of the fire on North
Larch Street in Cannon Beach.
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